Biometric system to weed out unhealthy foreign workers

SHAH ALAM: Beginning October, only foreign workers with their finger prints recorded under the biometric system can go through health screening before getting employment.

Immigration Director- General Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali said it was for the purpose of verifying their identity before the health screening aimed at restricting the spread of infectious diseases in the country.

“This system has been implemented before but its implementation is not comprehensive at the Fomema clinics,” he told reporters after a ceremony here yesterday.

Mustafar noted that there were several cases of foreign workers who used other individuals for health screening purposes.

“The number of cases is small but we do not want to compromise in this matter as we only want healthy workers employed in our country,” he said.

He said a total of 407,870 foreign workers underwent health screening within the first six months of this year and 10,618 or 2.6 per cent of them failed the test with the majority involving cases of tuberculosis ( TB), hepatitis B and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

Among the highest number of workers who did not pass the health screening were those from Indonesia, Nepal and Bangladesh, said Mustafar adding that those who failed the screening would soon be repatriated to their respective countries. — Bernama